California lawmakers approve 'sanctuary state' bill

17 September 2017

According to The Sacramento Bee, this is at least the third time in the last decade a park and beach smoking ban bill has been sent to the governor's desk, but each have been rejected with the most recent veto coming previous year from the Democratic governor.

California is poised to become a so-called "sanctuary state" after its legislature passed a bill Saturday that would establish new protections for people who are in the country illegally and send a clear signal of defiance against the Trump administration's tough approach to immigration enforcement.

"The California State Sheriffs' Association (CSSA) remains opposed to SB 54 writing, "... limiting local law enforcement's ability to communicate and cooperate with federal law enforcement officers endangers public safety." .

But amendments added this week would permit officers to continue sharing information and transferring people for immigration authorities if they have convictions for one or more of roughly 800 crimes. The state's affordability issues have been decades in the making, and they may get worse before they get better, with hundreds of communities across California still refusing to approve adequate housing-either because they don't want it or because the projects don't pencil out for either builders or cities.

The measure would ban police from asking for the immigration status of people who have been arrested.

The bill will prevent local police from becoming "cogs in the Trump deportation machine", de Leon said.

In arguing against the measure, Republicans in the Assembly invoked the 2015 shooting of Kate Steinle by an undocumented immigrant in San Francisco, arguing that sanctuary protections make communities less safe. It was amended Monday to include a much longer list of exceptions than originally proposed as well as changes that would allow federal agents to interview inmates in jails.

"This bill protects public safety and people who come to California to work hard and make this state a better place", Brown said in a statement.

California's Democratic political leaders have positioned the nation's largest state as a foil to Trump and his administration.